Towards A Verified Complex Protocol Stack in a Production Kernel: Methodology and Demonstration

Any useful computer system performs communication and any communication must be parsed before it is computed upon. Given their importance, one might expect parsers to receive a significant share of attention from the security community. This is, however, not the case: bugs in parsers continue to account for a surprising portion of reported and exploited vulnerabilities. In this thesis, I propose a methodology for supporting the development of software that depends on parsers---such as anything connected to the Internet---to safely support any reasonably designed protocol: data structures to describe protocol messages; validation routines that check that data received from the wire conforms to the rules of the protocol; systems that allow a defender to inject arbitrary, crafted input so as to explore the effectiveness of the parser; and systems that allow for the observation of the parser code while it is being explored. Then, I describe principled method of producing parsers that automatically generates the myriad parser-related software from a description of the protocol. This has many significant benefits: it makes implementing parsers simpler, easier, and faster; it reduces the trusted computing base to the description of the protocol and the program that compiles the description to runnable code; and it allows for easier formal verification of the generated code. I demonstrate the merits of the proposed methodology by creating a description of the USB protocol using a domain-specific language (DSL) embedded in Haskell and integrating it with the FreeBSD operating system. Using the industry-standard umap test-suite, I measure the performance and efficacy of the generated parser. I show that it is stable, that it is effective at protecting a system from both accidentally and maliciously malformed input, and that it does not incur unreasonable overhead

CEEME: compensating events based execution monitoring enforcement for Cyber-Physical Systems

Fundamentally, inherently observable events in Cyber-Physical Systems with tight coupling between cyber and physical components can result in a confidentiality violation. By observing how the physical elements react to cyber commands, adversaries can identify critical links in the system and force the cyber control algorithm to make erroneous decisions. Thus, there is a propensity for a breach in confidentiality leading to further attacks on availability or integrity. Due to the highly integrated nature of Cyber-Physical Systems, it is also extremely difficult to map the system semantics into a security framework under existing security models. The far-reaching objective of this research is to develop a science of selfobfuscating systems based on the composition of simple building blocks. A model of Nondeducibility composes the building blocks under Information Flow Security Properties. To this end, this work presents fundamental theories on external observability for basic regular networks and the novel concept of event compensation that can enforce Information Flow Security Properties at runtime --Abstract, page iii

An Examination of Manufactured Housing as a Community- and Asset-Building Strategy

An increasing share of lower-income families, the same population targeted by community-development organizations, are opting to live in housing that was built off-site in a factory to meet the performance standards of the national HUD manufactured-housing code. However, most community-development practitioners are just beginning to come to terms with the implications of manufactured housing for their work.This paper explores advantages and disadvantages of manufactured housing for those entities whose mission is community development and asset building. Several challenges are presented for practitioners: First, working to educate consumers while also creating financing processes that ensure manufactured home buyers obtain credit on the best terms for which they can qualify. Second, using the increased scrutiny under the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000 to advocate for states to enforce more rigorous installation standards and increased accountability. Third, working to overcome land-use controls which prevent manufactured homes from being placed in communities in need of affordable housing, as well as areas with more potential for appreciation. Fourth, working with designers and planners to develop innovative designs and housing developments, while maintaining manufactured housing's affordability advantages.Finally, equal effort must be devoted to address the difficult conditions of many lower-income people -- owners and renters alike -- living in older, and often deteriorating, mobile homes. While a few of these families and individuals could be relocated to new and better quality homes with the help of subsidies, resource limitations suggest the need to create cost-effective methods to eliminate health and safety problems by upgrading or rehabilitating this extremely affordable element of the nation's housing inventory.As a companion to this paper, an exhaustive literature review has been compiled

Defining US Southeast Asia Strategy: A Strategic Analysis of US Foreign Policy under Obama Administration

Studi ini mengkaji strategi Amerika Serikat (AS) di Asia Tenggara (Asteng). Penulis secara khusus dan empiris mengambil fokus kepentingan-kepentingan vital AS apa yang sesungguhnya terancam di kawasan Asteng, bagaimana berbagai strategi AS dan sumber daya yang dimilikinya melindungi dan memajukan kepentingan tersebut. Berbeda dengan studi lainnya, penulis mempertimbangkan apakah kebijakan poros strategis AS di Asia semata berfungsi untuk menjaga kohesivitas keamanan antarkawasan yang berada di bawah payung AS sejak Perang Dunia II. Kebijakan demikian dapat membelah persatuan ASEAN, menimbulkan ketegangan dengan Tiongkok, dan juga pada akhirnya dapat melemahkan keamanan antarkawasan. Sebagai tambahan, penulis mempertimbangkan apakah fokus baru AS di Asteng benar-benar format baru atau sekedar perubahan fokus strategi dengan substansi yang sama. Dengan menggunakan analisa studi kasus tunggal dari politik luar negeri AS di bawah Pemerintahan Presiden Obama di Asteng dari tahun 2009-2012, penulis menemukan bukti bahwa asosiasi antara fokus baru AS di Asteng dengan kepentingan nasional AS di bidang ipoleksosbudhankam yang bersifat memaksa sebagai bagian politik luar negerinya yang digunakan untuk memperbaiki keadaan dalam negerinya. Selain itu, penulis menunjukkan bahwa politik luar negeri AS di Asteng tetap dilanjutkan fokusnya pada perang melawan terorisme, menahan kebangkitan Tiongkok, dan memastikan bahwa kawasan Asteng tidak didominasi oleh entitas kekuatan yang berpotensi memusuhi AS.Kata kunci: Amerika Serikat, kebijakan luar negeri, Asia Tenggara, strategis

Instituting issue-based civics in the 11th grade classroom

There were several goals of this study. The first goal of this study was to identify if issue-based civics would produce any difference in a student\u27s attitude for and appreciation in civics. The second goal was to identify if issue-based civics would produce any difference in a student\u27s comprehension levels in civics. The last of these goals was to identify if the school a student attended had any impact on their attitude toward and appreciation of civics and comprehension levels in civics. The study was conducted on a sample of 70 11th grade students enrolled in American History II college prep classes available during a spring 2002 student teaching placement. The study was conducted at two different area high schools in southern New Jersey. An attitudinal survey was used to assess the participants\u27 attitude toward and appreciation of civics before and after treatment. The surveys were administered to both a traditional lecture-based group and an issue-based group. Results of the survey revealed that the participants of the issue-based group did not have a greater attitude toward and appreciation of civics as the researchers predicted. The results did not show a level of statistical significance (p\u3c.05) but did approach a level of statistical significance with a score of .086. A test was also administered to both groups before and after treatment

Children in domestic service c.1760-1830

Domestic service was a major source of employment in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries but has only in recent years been the subject of serious historical research. Child servants represented a rather small cohort of this sector but formed a significant section of the total child labour force. This thesis gives new attention to these youngest household workers and a ‘voice’ to many children hitherto ‘hidden from history.’ Recent studies of children working in factories have challenged many assumptions about child workers but indicate that they were, in general, favoured by employers because they were cheap, tractable and could be adapted to techniques and methods of organisation which adults resisted. This study shows that the decision to take a child into employment in domestic service was a more complex and individual matter. Cheapness and ease of exploitation had attractions for some masters, but the need for companionship or conveying a particular household image could also influence decisions. Previous studies have provided useful insights into the economic and cultural circumstances which pushed children into work at an early age. This investigation takes a different stance by looking at the considerations which the employer or master took into account when considering whether or not to employ a child. In some cases child servants were not welcome in households and were at times taken on out of duty or under duress. The thesis also explores the quality of the children’s lives by focusing on the commitments made in the indenture, or similar private arrangements, and the success with which these agreements were fulfilled. The importance of the indenture can be seen when we consider other eventualities affecting child servants (e.g. punishment, sickness, free time) where no commitment was made and much uncertainty remained. Finally, a closer study of the apprenticeship policy of two eighteenth-century charities (1775- 1804) provides a wider basis for a comparison of the lives of children placed in domestic service by the poor law and private agreements